Thurston County prosecutor declines to file charges against Clark County manager, council after Skamania investigation

Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney Jon Tunheim won’t file criminal charges against Clark County Manager Kathleen Otto or the county council after reviewing an investigation by the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office into whether Otto and the council violated the state’s Open Public Meetings Act and Clark County Charter.

The investigation was in response to a complaint filed in August by Ridgefield activist Rob Anderson.

In a Tuesday letter to Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik, Tunheim said he reviewed three allegations related to the council’s March 12, 2025, removal of Councilor Michelle Belkot from C-Tran’s board of directors.

Tunheim said in the letter that in his 36-year career, he has never experienced or heard of a law enforcement officer investigating either violations of the Open Public Meetings Act or a county charter.

Tunheim said claims the county council violated the Open Public Meetings Act and county charter provisions regarding appointments to boards and committees were civil matters to be decided by a court, not criminal matters. He said only an allegation that Otto committed official misconduct by allowing the council to remove Belkot from the C-Tran board could be considered a criminal matter.

To convict Otto of official misconduct, Tunheim said the “prosecution would be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she intentionally refrained from performing a duty imposed by law, with the intent to deprive another person of a lawful right or privilege.”

Despite Skamania County sheriff’s Detective Christian Lyle’s conclusion that Otto broke state law, Tunheim said Clark County’s charter neither empowers the county manager to nominate or appoint a county council member to a board nor empowers her to prevent the council from revoking an appointment.

“I conclude that no criminal charges should be filed. In addition, based on these facts, I believe it would actually be unethical for a prosecutor or law enforcement officer to file such a charge,” Tunheim said in the letter.

Anderson said Tuesday he wasn’t surprised by Tunheim’s findings. He claimed Golik shopped the investigation report around to Democratic prosecutors, including Attorney General Nick Brown, before turning to the Thurston County office.

“Rather than protecting the public from what appears to be serious corruption, his memo dismissed every criminal charge, characterizing the matter as a civil or political dispute. This appears to be a complete whitewash and carries a splash of retaliation. Given how many times I’ve exposed unlawful conduct within the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office,” Anderson said in an email.

Golik said he initially asked the Attorney General’s Office to review the investigation, because that is the typical avenue for matters of this nature. When that office declined, he asked the Vancouver City Attorney’s Office, which also declined, before asking Thurston County.

“My intent anytime I’m doing this is to find a prosecutor who is conflict free. … Jon Tunheim was clearly conflict free and did a very thorough review. It’s unfortunate Mr. Anderson makes that comment. I think Mr. Tunheim’s review speaks for itself,” Golik said in a phone interview.

Anderson filed an ethics complaint with the county’s Ethics Review Commission over Belkot’s removal. He also filed suit in Skamania County Superior Court seeking to reverse the council’s decision. The case was later moved to Clark County Superior Court. The ethics complaint was dismissed in May. Anderson’s lawsuit was dismissed in October.

Belkot also filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tacoma challenging her removal from the C-Tran board. Belkot’s suit was dismissed by Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright on March 18.

‘Political motives’

In his letter to Golik, Tunheim questioned Lyle’s conclusions following the detective’s investigation and decision to refer the matter for possible criminal charges. Tunheim said Anderson’s complaint was clearly an attempt to use law enforcement to further a political agenda.

“What I am most concerned about, however, is that these political motives, combined with the obvious lack of evidence of a crime, were not recognized by law enforcement as a basis to decline to do a criminal investigation. In my view, there was no reasonable justification to use law enforcement resources to investigate what is at most a civil legal complaint involving an alleged violation of the (Open Public Meetings Act) and/or the Clark County Charter,” Tunheim said in the letter.

The Skamania County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to The Columbian’s request for comment.

Lyle retired from the sheriff’s office in January after a 27-year career in law enforcement, according to a Facebook post from the department.

Tunheim said he had grave concerns that a detective was assigned to an investigation that involved interpreting noncriminal statutes and legal documents when that detective did not have the education or experience needed.

“It is unfortunate that the investigative report contains several legal opinions and conclusions, which are legally incorrect and clearly unfounded. In times when law enforcement and criminal justice system resources are strained, those resources should not, in my view, have been used for this purpose,” he said.

Tunheim urged others not to attempt to use the criminal justice system to resolve political disputes and law enforcement officials not to become ensnared in politically motivated investigations.